Yu-Gi-Oh! Nemty's Grip
by Blue-eyed Rancor
Summary: The time of Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba has passed. Now, almost half a century after the ceremonial duel, most of Japan is connected by the Freya System developed by Seto Kaiba. When a string of unsolved accidents puts Kaiba Corp under fire for their alleged involvement, confusion ensues and the company's unveiled secrets reveal a hidden darkness that threatens them all.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only own my characters and the plot.

Pilot

Hello.? (No Extension)

Before I begin this story, a question I have to ask. 'Is it possible for humanity to achieve and maintain an utopean society?'

People have said the world is in a cycle of its own, that though the events differ the people still go through the same struggle over and over again, that appears to be true.

Scarcity is the first reason an utopia can never be achieved, humans acknowelge this and it gave rise to an altruistic mindset where the good of the majority tales precedence over personal opinions, or is suppossed to. The funny thing about it is that though humans believe themselves to be altruists, nobody ever really wants to be the minority, therefore rebellion is birthed and chaos ensues. Eventually a system is damaged exensively before the fighting stops, after which construction on a new system begins and the cycle repeats itself.

I often wonder if this thought ever occurs to them, if the people see the long term futility of their efforts, as far as I've seen they never really do. A common saying among them is how in life emphasis is on the journey rather than the destination, its worth pondering over I suppose.

Often times I find myself feeling sorry for them, wishing I could help in any way, but I can't because I see and hear but can never be, forever forced to be the observer.

Well then, now that that's out of the way, let me begin the story.

It begins in Japan, in a luxurious and peculiar city, when the seeds began to germinate… when the first signs of growth was observed… from that duel…

* * *

Desperation. It changes a man, he begins to conceive plans and think of things he normally wouldn't, he begins to dwell on things he ought not to, and eventually he treads where he mustn't.

This young man was at the end of his straw, out of plans, ideas, jobs and money, and unable to live up to the shame of going back to his family, the same one that had abandoned him. He stumbled across an opportunity, it was predictably illegal and potentially life threatening, normally he wouldn't have given it a second look but he was desperate.

So with an odd looking duel disk attached haphazardly upon the main counter on his motorcycle, he began his foray into the illegal speed dueling ring.

Riding a motorcycle never lost its spark, accelerating to high speed always had a way of giving the feeling of casting off one's shackles. His hands gripped the handle bars tighter and he accelerated even more, finally completing a lap around the track.

It was a hard time for criminals, most seemed to think, and he used to think so too. With Freya's watchful eye cast over the entire country it was believed that even torrenting copyrighted material would be noticed and could get you a sentence, but if that was true how could an illegal duel be done without the very system the duel disk used not notice?

He still hadn't found that out how but he knew it was being done, he had spent a month as a spectator of the duels before managing to get himself a match and he still saw the other participants here, somehow they were successfully evading the system.

"Yo!" As he came to a halt he heard a man yell. "You ready or what?"

He gave the man a thumbs up in reply and the man smiled back, his yellow teeth sticking out even in the evening's darkness. The man approached him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Alright, Ren, I've got my money on you, I'm counting on you, don't fail me."

"I got this." Ren muttered back, his body vibrating as the bike did, if the man heard the nervousness in his voice he didn't seem to care.

"Let's begin!" The man with the yellow teeth yelled.

Grunts and yells of agreement echoed from the floor above, reminding Ren of where he actually was. It was truly magnificent, he had to admit, that an entire speed duel track was present below a single house.

The main track was created in a circular depression two metres below the basement floor level with a diameter of about 100 feet. He definitely knew the man who ran the circle couldn't have built it himself, he probably stumbled upon it and utilized it effectively, he supposed it was worth pondering what it had been used for before, storing servers maybe?

"Ready!"

The man's shout snapped him out of his thoughts and brought his mind back to the duel he was about to participate in.

"Set!"

He revved the bike.

"Go!"

And just like that both duelist took off, their bikes leaving a string of smoke behind them.

Ren smirked as he saw his opponent speed ahead of him, he intentionally took the outer path of the circle closer to the circumference rather than the centre, the first turn possesed too much drawbacks than advantages to him.

"Mark gets the first turn!" The man with yellow teeth, who was probably some sort of MC bellowed. "Now it's time to…"

"DUEL!"

* * *

*It was another monday. Another rainy monday, and the sky cried slowly in a never ending drizzle. Sumida Hideo wasn't particularly happy, it was a much needed break after days of scorching hot sunlight but rain just always seemed to make him melancholic, he never knew why.

"… through a number of proxies before rerouting it back to the exit."

"That is correct." He said to the intern sitting at her desk, the girl's face brightened as she heard that.

"Thank you." She blushed.

He wanted to say 'that wasn't a compliment', but he decided against it. Instead he said, "okay."

The girl shifted uncomfortably as the man gave her an expectant look. "Okay?"

"Show me."

"I-I-" she began to stutter, lowering her eyes. "I-We… weren't taught exactly how to…"

'Great,' Hideo thought. 'Another person who calls themselves a programmer yet knows about nothing outside Freya.' He sighed inwardly as he began to leave the girl's cubicle. "Hardly anyone can anyway," he said, unsure whether it was in an attempt to console the downcast girl or if it was just a rueful remark.

Still he'd give her some points for actually remembering the theory, second year in DU that was taught, if he remembered correctly. He'd asked three interns out of the five the firm accepted and out of the three she'd been the only one who knew the process, the others could neither do it nor remember it. He shook his head disapprovingly. 'This generation…'

All five of them were in their fourth year in DU, all were doing their industrial training in the firm he worked in and he felt obligated to check on them from time to time, see how the next generation of programmers were doing. He was disappointed. Nothing had changed, it was still the same thing being taught: Freya, and nothing else.

It was a brilliant system, Freya, he couldn't dispute that, created by one of the most riveting figures and brightest minds in recent Japanese history, he just didn't like what had been done with it and he was sure its creator wouldn't either. Nowadays Freya was everywhere and it was both a good thing and a bad thing, the bad being it had made people complacent, and complacency Hideo considered the bane of society. Bad things always happened when people became complacent, bad things.

"Oy, Hideo-kun, could you take a look at this?" A coworker asked as he walked by.

"Sure." He responded, turning to face the holographic renderation of a screen befor the woman.

Wireframe Security was the name of the firm he worked in, it was originally an internet security firm but soon it became solely concerned with supervising and maintaining Freya. There were many firms like it that were solely concerned with Freya, Kaiba Corp considered it safer that the system be fragmented such that while there was a central hub, failure in one sector wouldn't shut the entire system down.

Nothing much happened to the system, most of the work the people at Wireframe had to do involved correcting minor glitches and occassionally developing patches for the system, nothing much, but Kaiba Corp recently announced developing an update for the system and it involved a bit of actual programming on the part of the branch offices.

Hideo hardly paid attention to the projection in front of him, all he needed was one glance to know what was wrong, but he let his coworker drone on in her unneccessary explanation, give the illusion her problem was actually a smart one. Situations like this had been happening quite often and as such most of his day was spent helping out coworkers and that left him having to finish up his work with his PC at home, granted there wasn't much difference, but there was a certain security he felt using his workplace PC that just didn't apply to his own at home.

"Hideo-kun?"

He pointed at something on the holographic projection. "That's the older version of the function it doesn't allow three arguments."

"Oh," the woman exclaimed. "Silly me." She laughed. "Thanks for pointing it out."

"I'm here to help after all." He said before leaving her to her work, frowning as he did. His coworkers annoyed him, they made so much amateur mistakes and oversights and they appeared painfully inept even when given a simple task. In their defense being releglated to just maintainance work for so long had the detrimental effect of reducing one's creativity and skill, but it was also their job to, as he did, keep the juices flowing in those blockheads of theirs.

He sighed deeply as he sank into his office seat. He blamed the rain for making him have these thoughts, he never really knew how it always induced melancholy in him, he never knew.

* * *

"Hideo! Hideo!"

The twenty-something year old man turned in his sleep, what in reality was an earpiercing shout he only percieved as indisctinct.

"Hideo! Hideo!"

He turned again, getting irritated, wondering who could possibly be calling his name, if he remembered correctly Saki was still on her trip, nobody else his key so they couldn't get in…

'Except if it's a burglar!'

Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he sat up in his bed.

The impact sounded way worse than it felt, Hideo was certainly glad about that. "What the-?" He yelled, his forehead had smashed into that of whoever had woken him up. "Who's there?" Instinctively he palmed around the bed for an object he could use as a weapon.

"It's Eiji." The intruder said, one could tell he was in pain by the way he spoke. "It's me."

"What are you doing here?" Hideo asked rather harshly, relaxing a bit but still irritated despite the fact that it was his boss he was speaking to. "Put on the light at least."

"It's not working, everything's out. The power, air conditioning, alarm system, they're all out." The man called Eiji spoke. "We need to get to the office asap."

Hideo slowly got to his feet, rubbing his stinging forehead. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure." Eiji said, his voice shaky. "The system's malfunctioning I think."

Hideo's eyes darkened. There it was, bad things. Still dressed in his pajamas, he grabbed his bag and hurriedly left the house with Eiji. Outside, the view was no different than it was inside the house, to be simply put it was dark.

"What time is it?" Hideo asked his boss.

"I have no idea."

Hideo could hardly make out anything in the darkness, and as both men made their way to his garage he found himself following the older man's lead. He was close enough to see the man properly, and the worry on his wrinkled face was of a magnitude Hideo had never seen, he wondered how bad things actually were.

"Your car will still work, right?"

"Yeah," Hideo answered, said car making a beeping noise as he pressed the unlock button on his key. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Oh, thank goodness." Eiji said, relieved. "I thought you had one of those ones powered by the system. Mine is, and I had to walk all the way here because it refused to work."

Hideo looked on in slight disbelief, the man lived about fifteen minutes away when using a car, judging by the way his clothes were soaked he probably walked as fast as he could, Eiji was already pushing fifty, but at that moment he looked much older.

The car started, the engine humming loudly in the silence of the night, or morning, whichever it was. "Could it be a central thing? HQ's fault?" Hideo asked as he backed out of the garage.

"I don't know," Eiji said. "I don't know anything yet, but whatever is going on we're better off going to the office and checking it out."

Hideo nodded in agreement as he sped off.

"Take it easy." Eiji's voice came as a much needed reminder. "Don't drive too fast, it's urgent but there's no point killing ourselves before we fix it."

"Right." Hideo reduced the amount of pressure on the gas pedal, watching as the digital indicator counted down. They had only the headlights on, the streets lights were down as were the power in other houses, if they sped too fast they could run off the road or smash into something else, Eiji was right, they couldn't kill themselves.

The older man looked out the window as his employee drove, through the light of the headlamps he could see people coming out their houses, calmly, he thought, but he knew it was only a matter of time before something - or someone did something - that sparked panic. They had to solve this quick, somehow.

* * *

"Damn it!" Hideo blurted, as his foot struck what appeared to be an invisible metal construct. It was a door, Eiji revealed, and after twisting the knob he opened it. "I'll just let you lead the way." Hideo muttered.

There wasn't any power at Wireframe, not that he expected otherwise. It seemed like nothing running Freya was working, his Rhim, the small, slim, touchscreen device that was a essentailly a cross between a phone and a hand terminal, wasn't working either. He hated how he suddenly felt odd without it, it meant he was getting too attached to it and that wasn't a good sign. It suddenly occured to him that if everything running Freya was down, how would they try to fix it? All the PCs in the office ran it, how were they supposed to access the system?

Before he could ask his superior Hideo got his answer. "You're running a different operating system?" Disbelief was written all over his face.

"Oh," Eiji said, "this isn't my system, I mean look at it." The lights flickered on as the inverter began to work, illuminating the small room.

With the lights back on Hideo saw the setup, the mouse, keyboard, cpu and monitor, like an actual physical monitor, the last time he saw a monitor and a cpu that large and bulky was as a kid when his dad was cleaning out his storage locker, the PC was definitely an old one. "It still works?"

"Of course." Eiji said. "It's mandatory that every firm has one of these, it runs a different os completely disconnected from Freya, of course Kaiba Corp created it but it still serves its purpose well. We'll use this to check out the servers."

The ubiquitous Kaiba Corp logo showed up as the system booted, Hideo wouldn't believe there was anyone in Japan who didn't know what the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was seeing as Kaiba Corp was so intent on plastering their logo on every one of their products.

The PC finished booting and Hideo wheeled two chairs to the table upon which it sat. Both men took their seat, unconsciously flexing their brain cells.

"Shall we?" Eiji asked.

"We shall."

* * *

Hideo's fumbled with the tie around his neck, he hated wearing ties, he certainly thought that he had left wearing them at the university, turns out he was wrong. Eiji had basically dragged him along for the emergency meeting Kaiba Corp had called for all the security firms handling Freya after the scare early that morning.

"Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, sir." Eiji replied and the man in the navy-blue suit went his way.

"Can I remove the tie now?" He knew what he sounded like: a petulant child a father had dragged along to his event in an attempt to pass a message across to the child who wasn't getting it.

"Jeez, what's with you and ties?" Eiji shook his head."

"Can I?"

Eiji sighed. "I think we're in the clear."

"I can't believe I actually thought she'd make an appearance?" Hideo said, his tie in his hand as they began to leave the building.

"Who?" Eiji asked.

"Why, Kaiba-chan," he raised his hand in an exagerrated gesture of reverence, "our grace and saviour."

The older man snickered. "Don't let them hear you, some of these people actually believe she is." this got a laugh out his his grumpy employee. "But you know how she is, doesn't like the attention so much."

Hideo shrugged. "It's just that you'd think she'd be concerned about the system."

"She is, how could she not." Eiji said. "She probably tries to protect her family by being as secluded as she is."

Hideo had to admit, Eiji had a point, there were some people who possessed real hate for Kaiba Corp out there. "So…"

"So?"

"What now?" Hideo asked.

Eiji brought a hand to his bearded chin. "Normal work I guess, programming for the update, not like there's anything else to do."

"Right." Hideo said, he didn't believe that entirely.

Surprisingly, all they needed to do was exactly the first thing they did, and that was reboot the servers, easy right? It actually was. They only knew what had happened when they had a look at the logs. Something had overloaded the system and a program consumed more resources than was allocated to it, they couldn't tell which program it was but when it was done running it had the computer in a loop, executing itself over and over again and increasingly consuming more resources each time, even when all the power was being used by it execution went on, only when the rebooted the servers did it stop.

Some people at the meeting thought it was brought about by a hack but no trace of any breach had been found. It was confusing really, and it was the consensus that it was just brought about by a random freak overload. Kaiba Corp urged the firms to tighten the firewall but beyond that nothing was done.

Luckily nobody got hurt during the blackout, that being the greater danger most people were satisfied with how things had turned out. Hideo was happy too, he really was, but he definitely wasn't satisfied.

* * *

Eiji and Hideo entered the firm to a rain of applause, accompanied by phrases like 'Good job', 'Amazing work' and 'Brilliant response' being flung around.

As Hideo closed his office door he let out a sigh of relief, he was sure his back would start ache him, no thanks to his coworkers who seemed to love patting him on the back. He didn't see the point of their praise, all they did was reboot the servers, nothing hard.

He sat down at his table and put on his PC. Wasn't it the job of a programmer in a security firm to solve problems? Yet Kaiba Corp seemed content with not even identifying the problem to begin with.

'Freak overload.' He laughed at the thought. "What is the world turning into?"

A knock on his door got his attention and he stopped his musing. "Come in." He answered.

The girl that walked into his office was certainly not a familiar face, at first he'd wondered why anyone would bring their kid to work then he realized she was one of the kids on internship in the firm. "Can I help you?"

"Y-Yes." The girl answered, her crimson irises darting about the room. "You were asking me a few questions the other day, and- and I was just wondering if you could teach me more about programming."

"Oh." He looked at the girl, finally remembering who she was exactly. There were two girls and three male interns, the first thought that had popped into his head was 'the fat one', then he berated himself. 'She's not that fat…' "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Nomura Kiku." The girl answered.

Hideo stood up from his chair. "Well, Nomura-san, I'm glad that you want to learn more, but with this update due I'm quite busy,"

"Oh, don't worry then, I'll just-" she stopped when he handed her a book.

"It's a bit old, but what it teaches is quite relevant." Hideo said. "Try to keep it a secret." He smiled.

"Sure." She beamed. "Thank you, Sumida-san." She bowed.

"I'm always happy to give to those who ask." He answered. "Maybe when the update's done I can teach you a bit more."

"Thank you." Kiku repeated.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Ren: 8000 Mark: 8000

The life points meter appeared in its bright blue box, Ren saw his opponent's name highlighted in white signifying the turn was his.

"My turn!" The man called Mark yelled in the usual exagerrated manner duelists fancied. "I set a monster and end my turn."

"That's all?" He asked. "Boy, let me show you how a real turn plays out." His name was highlighted and he drew his card. He smirked. "First I special summon Jester Confit!"

A small clown balancing atop a red and white striped ball appeared, a big skile on his face. (1/0/0)

"Now I tribute Jester confit to summon Caius the Shadow Monarch!"

A large humanoid figure appeared. Most of its features were shrouded in shadows, the cause of which seemed to be the black orb it held in its hands. (6/2400/1000)

"When Caius is tribute summoned I can banish a card on the field." Ren said.

The black orb suddenly pulsed purple and the reversed card was sucked into it.

"Since it wasn't a dark attribute monster you don't get the effect damage." Ren said. "But now, Caius will attack you directly!"

A purple beam of shot out of the black orb in the monarch's hands, hitting Mark square in the chest, taking the wind out of him.

Ren: 4000 Mark: 4000 - 1600

The tyres on Mark's bike wailed loudly as the rider threatened to lose control and crash, lucky for them Mark was able to stay on the track and they quieted down, and as Mark struggled to catch his breath, Ren laughed.

"C'mon you can't be this weak in a duel like this." Ren shouted as he zoomed past the slower Mark. "Fight back!"

"I will!" Mark yelled back as he accelerated.

"I set two cards face-down!" Ren said, his crimson eyes scrutinizing at his opponent, and as his long brown hair billowed behind him he yelled back at Mark. "Then come at me!"

* * *

Author's Notes

Hi, as my name connotes I'm just your average blue-eyed, shadow-lurking being and this my latest foray into the Yu-Gi-Oh!-verse. This story is quite influenced by The Dark Side of Dimensions, it could be said to be a loose sequel of sorts set several years after the end of the movie.

There will be various duels throughout the story and they will feature 4000 lifepoints, the current rule of two field spell cards able to stay on the field simultaneously and the lack of drawing on the first turn. Some canon characters will appear at some points in the story but it'll be best not to expect anything, I'd like to surprise.

Feedback is welcome, I'd love to hear your opinions on it, and thank you for reading this, till next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Seto Kaiba was probably the most famous - or infamous, depending on your personal opinion - person to ever originate from the small city of Domino. He was a highly controversial figure in his time, and even in the present. Some saw him as a genius with unparalleled mental acumen while others regarded him as a ruthless opportunist who only thrived by stomping over others.

Hideo, however, was one of those who considered him a genius, and to those who insisted Seto Kaiba was only successful by stomping over others he'd ask, 'is there any other way?' The man had singlehandedly made an empire and he began small.

His invention of the duel disk revolutionalized trading card games and changed it from being a table top affair, he had later branched out into various industries and now Kaiba Corp made up more than seventy percent of the technology industry in Japan, and almost a quarter of the world, he couldn't dispute the accomplishment.

Seto Kaiba would have been turning 65 that year, and the words 'would have' are used because it was exactly 25 years since his disappearance.

* * *

The anniversary, during its two decade run, had somewhere along the line turned into a bit of religious thing. The spectators gathered around the extremely large bonfire in the centre of the Kaiba Dome, peering into it as though it was something more than a ball of flames. The entire stadium was silent, not a soul made a single sound.

That was until a shout rang through the area. "Duelists!" The voice continued, "Every year, on the 25th of the tenth month, we gather here in remembrance of a great man,"

Numerous people in the crowd mumbled in agreement as the voice spoke. "He might not be with us here but he will never be gone either. Seto Kaiba was the definition of a real duelist, and he strove to teach us how to be one too! So in celebration of the man that made this possible, we come here to decide which duelist is worthy of the prestigious Kaiba Medal!"

The flames suddenly turned blue and the spectators began to shout in anticipation. An image of a man's appeared surrounded by the flames, the brown hair, cocky smirk and focused eyes were unmistakibly that of Seto Kaiba.

The flames suddenly increased in intensity, threatening to reach the ascending levels of the stands. The people closest to it recoiled in discomfort due to the heat, it was only solid vision but the pain it mimicked was very real, solid vision had gone a long way since its inception. Silence once again returned to the arena as the flames completely dissipated, leaving the dueling field bare.

"Now lets announce the final contestants!" The voice continued. "On one side we have an up and coming duelist, a Domino City native and old school duelist, Bando Shinji!"

Shinji was in his late twenties, with a relaxed smile on his face he walked onto the field, dressed in nothing but a long sleeved t-shirt and black pants.

"On the other side we also have a Domino City native, a face many should recognize, the pro duelist Yuen the Swift!"

A crimson coat hung around his muscular frame, billowing behind him as he walked. Yuen had a smirk on his face, his bright orange hair spiked up wildly and with his blue irises he sized up his opponent.

The crowd cheered as both duelist stood against the other, in anticipation of the battle to come.

Yuen brought the device he held in his right hand and strapped it over his left. It looked like a small, slim cuboid with round edges, and when it was safely strapped on his hand he pressed a button. A small rod jutted out of the device in the direction away from his hand, out of the rod a rectangular platform rolled out, barely half a centimeter thick the platform was extremely light looking but it housed both the monster card zone and spell/trap card zone of the duel disk.

Bando strapped a similar device to his hand, and as he pushed the button the device went through the same changes his opponent's did.

"Now, duelists!" The voice said, magnified by the microphone it echoed round the stadium. "It's time to…"

"DUEL!"

* * *

"Yay…" Kiku said weakly. Confined to watch the ceremony through a screen, the girl wasn't as enthusiastic as she could have been.

She sighed, so were the demerits of having parent's like hers. They were always over protective, but as a twenty year old you'd think they'll have less influence over her, she thought so too. But there she was sitting in front of their holo screen watching an event that was occuring at a stadium barely ten minutes from her house all because her mom was scared of her daughter staying outside by midnight.

Kiku pouted as she stuck her hand in the bowl of popcorn balanced between her thighs as she sat crosslegged on the couch, she moved her hand around, fishing for nothing in particular. Her short black hair spiked out widly, normally she applied gel so it didn't but she didn't care to do so when she was home. Her mom always complained about her keeping her hair short, said it made her look like a boy, but she liked it short, it was less work that way. Following her mom to the hair dressers as a child seemed to have caused an aversion for the long sessions, and as soon as she was able to make the decision she decided to keep it short.

She blamed her mom for her current situation, it was her fault she couldn't go for the ceremony. Her dad wasn't as bothered as her mom, he was hardly around anyway, but her mom just had an infuriating way of guilt tripping you into doing exactly what she wanted you to do, she'd been that way as long as Kiku could remember, even when it was something as little as not wanting to make an omelet for your lazy sibling she would call on that super power of hers - yes, it had to be a super power, what else could it be?

There was nothing she could do now, anyway, but enjoy the finals. Bando was the dark horse of the tournament, he'd somehow managed to reach the finals despite the odds against him, but against Yuen, it was her opinion that he would lose, she just couldn't see his fiend deck keeping up with Yuen's deck, it would still be fun to watch either way, if not for the dueling then for the visual spectacle.

The solid vision system had gone a long way, much older people interested in dueling liked to say. They liked to go on about how it wasn't as dangerous as it was at the present, but Kiku couldn't even imagine a duel in which a flaming attack from a dragon didn't leave you sweating, there was just that big a difference.

She'd always loved dueling as a kid, but as she grew her passion went elsewhere and whatever dream of being a pro duelist she had died, she didn't regret it though, she definitely didn't want to be a pro duelist, she was happy with what she was doing. She did like dueling though, just not as a profession. She had a deck she maintained by buying cards and keeping it up to date, and sometimes she even dueled and occasionally participated in a card shop tournament, she liked to think she was averagely skilled in the game.

It was more fun to watch the pros go at it though, seeing different strategies and deck types clash against each other, it was great. And despite not being able to witness it live, she was sure she would still enjoy the duel. There was just one problem, she wasn't sure the popcorn would last.

* * *

Shinji: 4000 Yuen: 4000

On the blue lifepoints counter, Bando's name was highlighted, the computer's randomizer had picked him to take the first turn.

"My turn!" Bando said as he gazed at the five cards in his hand. "I set a monster, then I end my turn with one set card in my spell/trap zone." A horizontally oriented reversed card appeared before the black haired male.

"My turn, draw!" Yuen added a card to his hand and smirked, he had the advantage. Thanks to the new rules the only thing the first turn was good for was setting traps for your opponent and disrupting their plans, the player who went first ended up having a hand disadvantage, and for Bando whose deck used up the hand more quickly than it could replenish, going first was a bad thing. Yuen knew that and he would make sure he used the advantage as best as he could. "I summon Summoner Monk!"

A monk dressed in black and white robes appeared before the orange haired man. (4/800/1600)

"When my monk is summoned he switches to defense position." Yen said. "Now I activate Summoner Monk's effect. By discarding a spell card I can special summon a level four monster from my deck, and I'll use it to summon Top Runner!"

A bipedal robot appeared. The robot possesed a body that was white with blue streaks. (4/1100/800)

"The effect of the Cursed Bamboo Sword activates." Yuen said. "When the spell card is sent to the graveyard I can add a Bamboo Sword card to my hand. I'll add Golden Bamboo Sword to my hand."

"Next, I tune Top Runner to Summoner Monk."

The crowd began to roar in anticipation, Synchro monsters only just made their debut so they were still quite excited to see one being played.

Top runner transformed into four green rings that the monk flew through before being reduced to four shining orbs.

"Synchro summon! Blood Mefist!"

A beam of light shot through the rings and after the light disippated a new monster could be seen. A short red cape billowed behind the fiendish-looking figure, a top hat stood atop its head and in its hand was a short staff with a skull at the top. (8/2800/1300)

"I activate Blood Mefist's effect, once per turn I can deal 300 points of damage for each card you control. You control two cards so thats 600 points of damage." As soon as Yuen finished speaking the fiend pointed its staff at Shindo and a black miasma was conjured around the black haired man.

Shinji: 4000 - 3400 Bando: 4000

"Now, Blood Mefist, attack his monster!"

The fiend once streched out its staff towards Shindo, but instead of a black miasma, a purple beam shot towards the set monster, shattering it instantly.

"I end my turn with a face-down card." Yuen said, a reversed card appearing behind Blood Mefist as he did.

"My turn, draw!" Shindo said. "I activate my face-down card, Sinister Yorishiro!"

Yuen grit his teeth in annoyance at the sight of the trap card. 'I hoped he didn't draw it this soon.'

"Sinister Yorishiro, once per turn allows me to summon a level five or higher fiend-type monster without tributing. I'll use that effect to summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness."

Despite being a fiend-type monster Gorz looked extremely human. Sporting wild red hair and a cape the same color, the Emissary of Darkness stood tall, garbed in light armor and brandishing a odd looking weapon. (7/2700/2500)

"Now I activate the continuous spell card Burden of the Mighty." Shindo smirked, seeing his opponent frown. "This card reduces the attack points of your monsters by 100 times their level, so your level eight Blood Mefist loses 800 points."

As explained by Shindo, the skull-staff wielding fiend lost a bit of its power. (8/2800 - 2000/1300)

"Go, Gorz! Destroy Blood Mefist!"

The Emissary of Darkness made quick work of the weakened fiend, destroying it with a quick strike.

Shindo: 3400 Bando: 4000 - 3300

"I end my turn."

"My turn, draw!" Yuen said, adding a card to his hand, he smirked as soon as he saw the identity of the card. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon which destroys Burden of the Mighty."

A whirlwind suddenly appeared, it made its way to Shindo's field where it ripped his continuous spell card to pieces.

"Next I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted, which I use to resurrect Blood Mefist."

The staff wielding fiend reappeared, tipping its hat in a mocking gesture. (8/2800/1300)

"Next I summon Sergeant Electro!"

A silver robot appeared. Unlike Top Runner, this one had no legs, instead it possessed a gatling gun attached to one hand and a lance to the other. (4/1600/1300)

"I'll activate Blood Mefist's effect!" Yuen ordered. "There are two cards on your field, so…"

Shindo cursed as the black miasma appeared around him and did its magic.

Shindo: 3400 - 2800 Bando: 3300

Beads of sweat rolled down Shindo's face, even his clothes were beginning to get damp. He had to give it to Kaiba Corp, they made a pretty convincing system. Most people didn't know it, but the solid vision still wasn't solid, it was just through some nerve magic Kaiba Corp was able to convince them - their bodies rather- that they had actually been hit.

"Blood Mefist, attack!

A beam of purple released from the fiend's staff struck Gorz, shattering it into a myriad of pixels.

Shindo: 2800 - 2700 Bando: 3300

"Now, Sergeant Electro, attack him directly!" The silver machine aimed its gatling gun at Shindo and let loose a torrent of bullets.

Shindo grit his teeth in pain as he felt the sensation of a thousand pebbles hitting him.

Shindo: 2700 - 1100 Bando: 3300

"I two cards face-down and end my turn." Yuen said, smirking in triumph.

"My turn, draw!" Shindo said. 'It's here!' He puffed out his chest, forming a smirk of his own. "I bet you won't have that smirk when this turn is done." He told his opponent.

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Yuen's smirk widened.

"First, I activate Pot of Greed." Shindo inserted a card into his duel disk, bringing his hand to a total of four as he drew two additional cards. "Now using Sinister Yorishiro's effect, I'll summon my ace card, The Supremacy Sun!"

Brilliant light radiated from the armor worn by the new creature. The armor was primarily black with golden edges, the wearer's dark skin could be seen from its exposed hands and partially exposed face. Oddly enough, while the creature seemed humanoid in build its legs weren't visible. (10/3000/3000)

A lot of murmurs could be heard from the spectators. The Supremacy Sun was a very rare card, a member of the legendary planets series, the members of which hardly ever say the light of day and were probably expensive collectibles.

"I'm sorry, but your ace card won't be staying for long." Yuen said. "I activate Bottomless Trap Hole!" One of his two reversed cards flipped up. "This destroys your monster and banishes it!"

"I activate Sinister Yorishiro's effect!" Shindo countered. "If a fiend-type monster, only one fiend-type monster and no other cards, will be destroyed, I can save it by sending Sinister Yorishiro to the graveyard.". Both the continuous trap card and Yuen's Bottomless Trap Hole disappeared.

Yuen frowned. "Where does someone like you get a card like that?"

"Supremacy Sun, attack Blood Mefist!" Shindo ordered, ignoring his opponent's question.

The armored diety let out a low grunt and multiple beams of light shot out of its hands, each of them finding their way to the hat wearing fiend.

"I'm not going down so easily," Yuen yelled. "I activate Widespread Ruin! When you attack me, this card destroys the monster you control with the highest attack points, since you control only one monster there's no choice there."

Just as the beams were about hitting Blood Mefist an explosion rocked the entire fiend, kicking up a large amount of holographic dust and culminating in the destruction of The Supremacy Sun.

"I end my turn with two set cards." Shindo said cooly, appearing unperturbed by the loss of his ace card as two reversed card appeared before him.

"My turn." Yuen said, giving Shindo a wary glance as he drew his card. He looked at the two cards in his hand carefully before deciding what his next move was.

"I activate The Sun's effect." Shindo said.

"What?" The orange haired man blurted.

"By discarding one card on the next standby phase after its destruction I can special summon it from the graveyard." Shindo inserted the lone card in his hand into his graveyard. "Return to me, The Supremacy Sun!"

The armored diety returned back to the field, the light radiating from its armor increasing in intensity. (10/3000/3000)

Yuen grit his teeth in annoyance. "Fine! In that case I'll activate Broken Bamboo Sword, equiping it to Blood Mefist."

Like the name implied, a broken bamboo sword appeared in Blood Mefist's free hand. Its stats stay intact however, the equip spell card seemingly adding no value whatsoever. (8/2800/1300)

"Next I activate Golden Bamboo Sword." Yuen declared. "If I control a Bamboo Sword equip spell Golden Bamboo Sword allows me to draw two cards." He swiped the top two cards from his hand, a small smile coming to his face as he saw them. "You've lost, Bando-san."

"How's that?" Bando Shinji asked with a small smile.

"The Supremacy Sun might be able to resurrect itself, but that only happens on the next turn. Right now your life points are low enough that an attack from almost any monster I own will end you, all I need to do is to power Blood Mefist up."

Shinji laughed in response, though his opponent didn't back down. "Well let me also tell you something too. I have two reversed cards, one of which will stop whatever plan you have, how much luck do you think you have?"

"Plenty." Yuen answered with a smirk. "I activate Sergeant Electro's effect, once per turn, I can select a reversed card you control and while my Sergeant is on the field that card cannot be activated."

"Then by all means select." Shinji said. "Left? Or right?"

A bead of sweat rolled down Yuen's face, this was crunch time. A wrong guess would be fatal, Supremacy Sun's weakness was banishment but he had no cards that could do that at the moment, if he was wrong he could lose. "The one on the right!"

Sergeant Electro shot out the lance at the end of its left hand and it pierced the reversed card to Shinji's right.

'Was I right?' Yuen wasn't sure, his opponent wasn't smiling anymore, but he still didn't seem worried, could he be bluffing? Either way, he had to take the chance he had. "I activate Blood Mefist's effect, dealing 900 points of damage since you control three cards!"

Shinji once again grunted in pain as the black miasma enveloped him.

Shinji: 1100 - 200 Yuen: 3300

"I activate Blustering Winds, which grants Blood Mefist 1000 attack and defense points until my next standby phase."

Blood Mefist glowed red for a moment as its stats rose. (8/2800 - 3800/1300 - 2300)

"Now, Blood Mefist, attack The Supremacy Sun and end this duel!"

"Wrong decision!" Shinji yelled. "I activate Hate Buster!" His free reversed card flipped up.

"Hate Buster?!" Yuen paled. "Crap!"

"This destroys both our monsters and deals you damage equal to your monster's original attack in the graveyard."

An explosion rocked the field, but while The Supremacy Sun was destroyed instantly, Blood Mefist was sent barreling towards Yuen. Upon impact with the duel monster Yuen genuinely felt the wind taken out of him as the monster shattered.

Shinji: 200 Yuen: 3300 - 500

"It- It's not over yet, I still have Sergeant Electro." Yuen, recovering from a coughing fit, opened his mouth to say. "Sergeant Electro, attack him directly!" The silver machined began to aim.

"I activate the effect of the Necro Gardna I discarded to my graveyard for the Sun's effect. By banishing it, I can negate your attack."

The rain of bullets released by Sergeant Electro were stopped by an invisible barrier.

Yuen cursed as his attack failed, knowing he was probably done for. The Sun would ressurect on Shinji's turn and he would lose. "I set a card and end my turn." A reversed card appeared behind Sergeant Electro.

A roar of excitement came from the crowd, clearly a lot of them were happy with the recent turn of events.

"My turn, draw." Shinji said. "I discard a card to bring back The Supremacy Sun."

The dark skinned diety reappeared, garbed in its light radiating armor. (10/3000/3000)

"The Supremacy Sun, attack his Sergeant Electro!"

"Aaaah!" In the usual dramatic fashion duelists loved to employ, Yuen yelled as the fiend-type monster's beams hit him, sending him tumbling to the ground and eliciting a louder roar from the stands.

Shinji: 200 Yuen: 500 - 0

"We have a winner!" The announcer's voice could be heard as smoke filled the dueling field.

"Bando Shinji is the winner of this year's Kaiba Medal!"

* * *

Kiku yawned as she switched off the holo screen, cutting off the brosdcast and leaving the empty popcorn bowl on the couch as she stood up. She paled as she saw the time, she had to go to the office in the morning, and she was type of person who needed an exact amount of sleep or else she would be cranky.

With sleepy eyes she trudged to her room, forgetting about everything else aside from sleep.

* * *

A man dressed in a simple t-shirt and pants walked inside the almost empty Kaiba Dome. That was the highlight of the year, the Seto Kaiba Festival, the cost of using the dome, even thanks to Kaiba Corp's stinginess, could not put a dent in the profits he made.

It was funny to think that he had once doubted if the idea would be lucrative, now it made up a lot of his yearly income, he thanked whatever caused him to conceice the idea.

However, after the festival came the part he least liked, cleaning the Kaiba Dome. Naturally the spectators would eat and drink, but despite the countless amount of waste bins he had placed around the dome they still littered, it was quite irritating. Sure it didn't cost too much compared to the profit, but still…

"What's going on?" He asked an employee of his who was running towards him.

The employee, panting, explained. "Sir, it's Yuen!"

The man raised an eyebrow, "I don't follow, who?"

"One of the finalists." The employee said. "He hasn't moved since the duel ended. We've tried to wake him up but-"

"Take him to the hospital then!" The man yelled.

"O- Ok sir!" The employee ran off to where a number of other employees clustered.

The man sighed. The last thing he needed was somebody dying on his watch, besides the moral guilt, it could also mean the end of his business, and he couldn't take such chances. "Get him in my car quickly!" He yelled at the employees as he made his way to the parking lot, silently hoping it wouldn't escalate.

* * *

Kiku yawned, fighting the urge to put her head on her desk and just doze off. Her eyes felt heavy, she definitely hadn't slept enough.

"Quit yawning, and go get a coffee." The person in the next cubicle said.

"Yeah, my old man always said sleep is contagious!" Someone else yelled. "Don't give it to the rest of us!"

"I hear you!" She shouted back before leaving to get some coffee, she wasn't sure she would actually drink it though.

As she passed the corridors her phone began to ring, the sound was louder than usual due to the hollowness of the halls and she instinctively silenced it before checking the caller ID. It was a number she wasn't familiar with but she answered altogether. "Hello?"

The person at the other end of the line said somethings and her expression hardened, her eyes became filled with worry. "Yes I am. Nomura Kiku."

She held her breath as the person said something else. Finally when they were done she asked in an anxious tone, "What happened to Ren?!"

* * *

Ren: 4000 Mark: 1600

"My turn, draw!"

"I activate Snake Rain!" Mark bellowed. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can send four reptile-type monsters from my deck to my graveyard."

As Mark milled four monsters from his deck Ren raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Now by banishing all reptile-type monsters in my graveyard I can special summon Evil Dragon Ananta!" Mark yelled.

The images of five monsters appeared, each image turned into a purple orb and all the orbs soon coalesced into a much larger one. A snake's head came out of the orb, followed by another, then another, until they were seven of them. All the heads were attached to the same serpent body which also emanated from the orb before it dissappated. (8/? - 3000/? - 3000)

"Ananta's attack amd defense points are equal to the number of monsters banished to summon it times 600." Mark explained. "Now Ananta-"

"I activate Escalation of the Monarch!" Ren interrupted, one of his reversed cards flipping up. "Thanks to this continuous spell card, once per turn, I can tribute summon during your turn. So I'll tribute Caius to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch!"

The orb holding monarch dissapeared and in its place a warrior appeared. Kuraz wore blue gauntlets on both fists and was garbed in shining golden armor and a cape of a similar color. (6/2400/1000)

"When Kuraz is summoned, I can destroy up to two cards on the field. I'll just destroy one though, that being Evil Dragon Ananta."

"I counter with My Body as a Shield!" Mark yelled. "When you activate a card effect that would destroy a monster of mine, by paying 1500 life points I can negate the effect and destroy that card!"

Ren: 4000 Mark: 1600 - 100

"Shit!" Ren cursed as his warrior of light shattered into pieces.

"Now, Ananta, attack directly!"

As the seven headed reptile approached him, Ren did his best to speed out of its reach. Ultimately this was futile and one of the snake heads got close enough, smashing into him and getting him to press the brakes in order to prevent an accident.

Ren: 4000 - 1000 Mark: 100

"I set a card and end my turn." Mark said as he sped past Ren.

Ren's still face-down card suddenly shattered. "Hey, what gives?" The black haired man yelled, panting as his crimson eyes staring accusingly at his opponent.

"Ananta's effect happened." Mark cooly replied. "During my end phase I must destroy a card on the field."

"My turn, draw!" Ren bellowed. He stared at the two cards in his hand and smiled. "I'll admit you're not a bad duelist," he told Mark. "But you're not quite there yet. I set a monster and one more card in my spell/trap zone, turn end!"

"My turn!" Mark said, adding a card to his hand. "I summon Oshaleon!"

A small, brightly coloured chameleon appeared. Its underside was blue while most of its back was green. A number of white stars were visible on its body, its black eyes staring eerily at Ren. (3/1400/800)

"Evil Dragon Ananta, Attack!"

* * *

Author's Notes

This story will focus on a number of characters and as such the first few chapters shall be devoted to introducing them.

Feedback is welcome, your opinion is much valued. Thank you for reading, and till next time.


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